Supreme BeastTamer: I Can Copy and Upgrade Skills 10x!

(AN: I made a big blunder by pairing Nox with Drake instead of Rab, but I fixed it in the match lineup at the end of the chapter 68.)

***

"I... I lost."

The smoke eventually cleared, and all the spectators saw the outcome of the clash. As they did, they were all stunned speechless by what they saw.

Nyx, the girl who had displayed overwhelming power just moments ago, now lay on the ground, barely conscious. A frown marred her beautiful face, with two lines of tears streaming from her eyes.

"Just a little more, and I would've won," Nyx thought, staring at Wendy, who was looming over her with the sun shining behind her and her hand outstretched.

"Y-you're strong. I still can't believe you actually forced me to use one of my trump cards," Wendy stated. "For a five-year-old, you're too strong. I'm sure if you continue at this pace, a few years from now, even I wouldn't be a match for you. How about we become friends? I can be your big sister when you come to the Academy."

Nyx stared at Wendy's outstretched arm with complicated emotions. For some reason, she felt good knowing that she was able to give a ranker from the Vermilion Royal Academy a run for their money, even forcing them to reveal their trump card.

"She's right; in a few years, even she won't be a match for me... I just have to work hard and get more skills." Nyx's eyes shone with determination as she took Wendy's outstretched arm, helping herself up.

The crowd erupted into cheers at this display of sportsmanship. Initially, they believed Nyx would lose to the dark horse within seconds, but she had proved everyone wrong, even forcing Wendy into a difficult situation.

It was not the end of the road. With her performance, she already had the organizers and even the general public vote to advance into the semifinals. The people who had advanced to the semifinals were Nox, Cole, and Wendy.

However, to make it more fair and balanced, the organizers and spectators could vote for a participant with the most outstanding performance to enter the semifinals.

Nyx had won this vote, thus she still had a shot to win this tournament.

"If we meet in the semifinals, I won't go easy on you this time," Nyx commented with a rarely seen smile before walking down. As she did, Aina, spectating the fight, gave her a thumbs up. She was very proud of her daughter.

... And one thing Nyx loved most was making her mother proud. She then thought of someone and looked in his direction. Her silly brother gave her a thumbs up with a stupid goofy smile, which for some reason suddenly made her mood sour.

"Wow, so those are the ones who would represent us," a spectator commented. "But isn't it uneven? There are only four."

"I'm guessing the losers of the quarterfinals would compete for that spot." Because the competitors were taking a break, the spectators had time to speculate about the upcoming match.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Elvin kept watch but hadn't spotted anything. Boredom was setting in, and he began to think Nathan was just being paranoid.

"I wonder if the tournament has ended already..." Elvin thought when he stopped hearing any chants coming from the arena. Just as he was getting annoyed at the thought of missing the tournament, he sighted something in the far distance. With a closer look, he noticed it was a woman.

"Someone is approaching, a black-haired woman... what should I do?" He contacted Eve through the communication crystal.

"Since she isn't following the front gate, shoot her down!" Eve replied in an emotionless voice. She was casually talking about shooting down a human as if it was very normal.

"But, but what if she means no harm?"

"If she meant no harm, she'd have entered through the front gate."

"Ah, that makes sense." Elvin didn't ask further questions, aimed his bow at the mysterious woman, and released an arrow. However, before the arrow could strike its target, the woman suddenly vanished into black mist.

"Huh."

"What, did you miss?"

"No, I mean yes, but she vanished into black mist."

On the other side, Eve paused and pondered with a thoughtful expression. She tried to think about any class capable of doing something like this.

"Perhaps an assassin," she pondered. Teleportation and invisibility skills were more compatible with assassin-type awakened. Could it be the duke sent an assassin to take revenge?

As she was about to contact Nathan to be vigilant, a black-haired woman suddenly appeared before her. A pair of daggers materialized in Eve's hands, and she was about to stab the intruder in the chest but immediately paused when she took a good look at the woman.

She had flowing black hair that reached her waist and beautiful green eyes. With her black gown and the ominous aura that was billowing off her, Eve instinctively knew who this person was.

"Don't panic, Elvin. I know who she is. She's not an enemy... at least not yet," Eve told Elvin through the communication crystal. He released an audible sigh of relief, but soon his brows furrowed as he thought about something.

"What does she mean by not yet?" Unfortunately, before he could ask this question, the communication line was disconnected.

After ending the call, Eve turned to the mysterious woman and spoke in her unfriendly voice, "This is my resting period, why are you here?"

"You've been assigned a new mission, Eve." The mysterious woman made a brief bow; after all, Eve was much stronger and held a high position in their organization.

"A new mission?" Eve frowned. "I wasn't expecting any mission so soon. What's going on?"

The mysterious woman smiled, her green eyes glinting with amusement. "The queen has deemed this mission to be of utmost importance. It cannot wait."

Eve raised an eyebrow, intrigued now that she heard it was a direct mission from the queen herself. "What is the mission?" she asked a moment later.

The woman nodded her head. "It's concerning the emergence of the new..."